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Influence 6.2/Fall '02
MSW STUDENT AT THE WASHINGTON STATE LEGISLATURE Mr. Tony Bruner, MSW Class of 2002, University of Washington My interest in the legislative process and in how social workers might influence it was sparked by a class taught by Professor Ronald B. Dear in the MSW Program at the University of Washington School of Social Work. The course, “Legislative Advocacy: the Politics of Social Change,” exposed students to the state legislative process, the subtle art of lobbying, and the technical ins and outs of pushing a bill through the legislative machinery. When our class visited the state capital in Olympia, I was at first struck by how few social workers were employed in a place where social change is made everyday. I felt that here was a place where a lot of good work could be done. There are three current legislators with MSW degrees as well as several key staff analysts and lobbyists. Still, I felt a lot could be done by those with training in social work and skills in the legislative process. Professor Dear introduced us to a number of key actors in the legislature, among them Representative Mary Lou Dickerson, one of the three MSW legislators. She expressed great interest in having an MSW student as an intern. The successful applicant would need to work with her and her staff before, during, and after the legislative session. Fortunately, I was the one selected and the placement ran from October 2001 to June 2002. Since I was one of the first MSW students to be placed with a legislator, there were many logistical and administrative hurdles to jump through. With a little persistence and a lot of help from Rep. Dickerson, Professor Dear, and the staff at the School of Social Work, we made it work. I was brand new to the legislative scene and much of my time involved learning what I could about the complex environment of state politics as well as the issue of neglected children, a population for which Rep. Dickerson continues to be a strong advocate. The 2002 session would see a trilogy of Dickerson bills concerning child neglect and it was with these that I would be working most directly. During the session, I organized most of the testimony heard in front of the committee, researched bills, attended several hearings, and helped Rep. Dickerson and her legislative assistant in the daily tasks of lawmaking. Simple things like making phone calls, writing emails, and organizing meetings culminated in the passage of two or the three bills that make it easier to provide services to neglected children. One bill, HB 2382, passed into law and signed by Governor Gary Locke, was designed to motivate parents who neglect their children to receive state services or face prosecution for criminal mistreatment. As the photo indicates, I was at the signing along with Representative Dickerson, one her staff, Mike O’Sullivan, and the Governor. My experience made me understand that the political world is not some out-of reach entity, accessible only to the influential and the powerful. With a little creativity, simple organization, and a lot of patience, one can have a voice in the democratic system. Rep. Dickerson has accepted another social work intern for 2003, so perhaps someday we may see social workers and the populations they represent having a voice equal to those of corporations and special interest groups. ISP AUCTION Influencing State Policy’s annual auction will take place on the evening of Friday,February 28, 2003 at the APM of the Council on Social Work Education in Atlanta. Plan to be there, bring your friends, and, above all else, contribute a special item to enliven the evening and increase our proceeds to support our Ph.D. stipend and video production. We need all ISP Members to contribute at least one item. Here are some suggestions: destinations such as a vacation home/cabin/lodge or city apartment for a week, air fares, hand crafted jewelry, autographed memorabilia, hotel weekends, leather goods, state flags and state-related goods, tickets to TV or sporting events, and cruises. To date, we have secured the following to go under the hammer: a week’s stay at a vacation home on the Outer Banks of NC, a weekend at Colonial Williamsburg, a complete set of the Social Work Yearbook from 1929, a feature magazine with the Rolling Stones in the 70s, handwoven basket from Africa, and jewelry by F. Ellen Netting. Please notify Bob Schneider at rschneid@vcu.edu or 804.828.0452 about your contribution. Do not delay because we need to promote early! UPCOMING EVENTS September 1, 2002. New goals and priorities set for ISP. Kickoff for the Annual Influencing State Policy Contest 2003. October 23-27, 2002. Annual Conference of the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors in Pittsburg, PA. ISP will have a booth in the exhibitors' hall. For more information: go to the BPD website at http://www.rit.edu/~694www/bpd/ or BPDConference@aol.com November 15, 2002. Deadline for completed proposals for the ISP $2,000 Ph.D. Dissertation Award — 2002. See rules or call Bob Schneider at 804.828.0452 or email rschneid@vcu.edu December 5-6, 2002. Social Work Summit II. Organized by NASW in Washington, DC to convene social work organizations and assist them in connecting with each other. Contact: Becky Corbett at bcorbett@naswdc.org or 202.336.8222 or http://www.socialworkers.org/ February 28, 2003. Friday. Noon to 1:00 PM. ISP Annual Planning Luncheon during the APM of the Council on Social Work Education in Atlanta, GA. Reservations required. Call or email Bob Schneider at 804.828.0452 or rschneid@vcu.edu. February 28. 2003. Friday. 5:30-6:45 (Preview) & 7:00-8:00 PM Annual "Live" Auction of Influencing State Policy at the APM of the Council on Social Work Education in Atlanta, GA. March 1, 2003. Tuesday. 5:30-6:45 PM Annual Meeting of Influencing State Policy at the APM of the Council on Social Work Education in Atlanta, GA. Includes the winner of ISP Ph.D. $2000 dissertation stipend for 2002 and a member of the Georgia state legislature. April 15, 2003. Monday. Deadline for paper/presentation proposals for the APM of the Council on Social Work Education, February, 2004, in Anaheim,CA. Contact: http://www.cswe.org or 703.683.8080. April 21, 2003. Monday. Deadline for entries to the Annual Influencing State Policy Contest - 2002 for faculty and students. See rules and instructions. June 21-24, 2003. The Policy Conference. Co-sponsored by the College of Social Work at the University of South Carolina, NASW-PACE, and ISP in Charleston, SC. ISP annual contest awards luncheon and sessions galore on policy and practice. Proposals for papers will be due around March, 2003. For more information, call Dr. Julie Miller-Cribbs at 803.777.1546. or jmcribbs@sc.edu or go to http://www.cosw.sc.edu/conf/policy/index.htm. ISP WEBSITE Influencing State Policy’s website, http://www.statepolicy.org is available 24 hours a day and seven days a week. As of September 10, 2002, there have been 21,567 visits. Recall that one of our goals is to have 1,000 visits per academic month. Another initiative is integrating the website into the classroom or assignments. Below is an assignment that Bob Schneider at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work is using: Stateline.org: Website Resources for Policy Assignment: Students may go to http://www.statepolicy.org, the website of Influencing State Policy, and follow the instructions on the first page, i.e., click on the flag and follow the directions to link up with Stateline.Org. At Stateline.Org, select “Welfare and Social Policy” under the heading “Issues,” and review the current policy issues for that day in selected states. Or click on any state on the map and investigate what social welfare policy is currently in the news in that state. Prepare a 2-minute presentation on an example of this state’s policy and deliver it orally in class according to a calendar developed by the instructor. Other new website and Internet related resources are: The Urban Institute’s website, www.urban.org/pubs/welfare_reform/FastFacts.html, where you can find basic data on welfare reform. It includes the work status of welfare leavers, how TANF dollars are spent, racial and ethnic group profiles, and low-income families with children. The US Census Bureau has begun releasing “Demographic profiles: 100-percent and sample data.” A profile includes four tables that provide various demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics for the states, counties, minor civil divisions in selected states, places, metropolitan areas, American Indian and Alaska Native areas, Hawaiian home lands and congressional districts. It includes 100-percent and sample data from the decennial censuses. There are four tables in the Demographic Profile, labeled (DP-1 thru DP-4). For Census 2000 data, the DP-1 table is available as part of the Summary File 1, and the other three tables will be available as part of the Summary File 3 data set. Files are available in .zip compressed .csv (comma separated values) format, with documentation available in .pdf format. Go to: http://www.census.gov/ Allan Barsky, JD, MSW, PhD at the Florida Atlantic University School of Social Work in Boca Raton, writes: “Just wanted to say how much we at FAU appreciate the work you’ve done on your Influencing State Policy website —very user friendly and practical. We have developed a social action component on our own School of Social Work web site with particular links to FL and Federal organizations at http://www.fau.edu/ssw/public/socadvocacy.html, and have linked our web site to yours. Email: barsky@barsky.org. With Foundation Grants to Individuals Online, you can quickly search through detailed descriptions of close to 4,800 foundation and public charity programs that fund students, artists, researchers, and other individual grant seekers (only $9.95 for a one-month subscription). Within seconds you can generate your own list of prospective funders. Visit: http://gtionline.fdncenter.org/. Go to http://www.nimh.nig.gov/outline/responseterriorsm.cfm to learn, in English and Spanish, about posttraumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety disorders, and for a special fact sheet on helping children and teens cope with disasters and violence. http://www.childpolicyintl.org/ is a site at Columbia University providing a single source for cross national comparative social and policy data and information on children, youth, and families in 23 advanced industrialized nations. Links to over 100 organizations and research centers. For a report on the effectiveness of Faith-based Organizations, go to http://www.ppv.org/indexfiles/phila-index.html. CHAIRMAN'S LETTER Greetings! Influencing State Policy wishes each of its members a very productive academic year 2002-03. If you read the results of the 2002 ISP contest in this newsletter, I think that you will agree that faculty and students are really hitting their stride. Congratulations to the winning entries and also to all of the other entries. The policy advocacy and the level of success demonstrated by social workers in these projects are most impressive. No one can say that little is happening in the state legislatures without some social work participation. Of course, this is the raison d'être of ISP and we all need to contribute to the quantity and quality of legislative initiatives. I ask you to review the new goals and priorities of ISP for this year. These items provide us with a specific focus for the immediate future, and when we support them, we produce outcomes that make a difference. If you want to become more active with any of the initiatives, please let me know (rschneid@vcu.edu) and I will introduce you to a group working on the issue. One previous item to which I call your attention is the new Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards document of the Council on Social Work Education. It is now in effect and as you might recall, ISP lobbied hard for changes in the welfare policy section; most of our suggestions are now policy. In this document, under which all programs are scrutinized for accreditation every eight years, it states in 4.4, Social Welfare Policy and Services that “programs provide… students with knowledge and skills to understand major policies…and demonstrate policy practice skills in regard to economic, political, and organizational systems, and use them to influence, formulate, and advocate for policy consistent with social work values….” PLEASE incorporate these ideas and words into your curricular changes and course development. If your program is scheduled for accreditation, call attention to this standard and insist on appropriate changes. If you are an accreditation site visitor, please apply these concepts to the programs you are evaluating. As we all know, policy is the base for decision-making. All programs in social work education should begin to reflect 4.4 above. Why? Because it’s CSWE policy! Persistence is required. ISP is actually changing the way social work education is being delivered. But, it is slow work and not for the fainthearted. Enabling our profession to integrate its policy and practice dimensions is a goal worthy of us all. Why? Because it makes perfect sense. Policy affects practice and practitioners affect policy! Let your students and colleague hear these words often. Use our videos to deliver the message. The argument is very difficult to refute and eventually we will win them all over. All the best. ISP 2002-03 GOALS GOALS
INITIATIVES
BOOK REVIEW The Soul
of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time Author Paul Rogat Loeb: St. Martins Press. 1999. [Paul Loeb is a scholar with the Seattle Center for Ethical Leadership] (www.soulofacitizen.org). Soul of a Citizen is an inspirational book, which gently calls out to us who yearn to improve the human condition but lack the confidence to do it. It lures us with story after story of all kinds of people who have taken the plunge anyway and become empowered and successful as a result of their moral conviction. Soul of a Citizen is a perfect book to use in a social welfare policy course, as a supplement to the textbook, to light a fire in the hearts and minds of students who yearn to become activists but fear they don’t have what it takes. Whatever the form of our particular fears and doubts, this book addresses and evaporates them. It reminds us once again that people who do great things are basically just ordinary people, with courage and conviction in spite of their apprehension. In the end, it's their sense of outrage that empowers them. Loeb says: “I’d like this book to be an antidote to the sense of powerlessness that pervades our culture, a meditation on what it means to fight for more humane social and economic conditions in a sometimes discouraging time” and later, “If we can re-commit with our conscience and regain a sense of hope, our voices can be heard once more” (p.13). On pages 87-88, Loeb reminds us of some of the conditions which stir our indignation [also documented in another related book: The Social Health of the Nation: How America is Really Doing, by Marc and Marque-Luisa Miringoff (1999) New York: Oxford University Press. (www.oup.com).] Examples include the shocking level of social inequality, the inferior status of the U.S. relative to many other industrial nations in terms of infant mortality, homelessness, child poverty, violent crime, the imprisonment rate, and our inferior educational system. Loeb says “the risks we take make a difference,” and quotes Robert Kennedy, who said, “Each time a person stands for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he or she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. And crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance” (p.101). “A final victory,” Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “ is an accumulation of many short term encounters. To lightly dismiss a success because it does not usher in a complete order of justice is to fail to comprehend the process of achieving full victory” (p.101). This book is truly a spiritual treatise, as the word “inspire” presumably means “to fill with spirit.” The Soul of a Citizen contrasts what most Americans like to believe is the heart of our country, showing how this gap between our ideals and the reality of some of the economic, social, and ecological conditions is a major source of silent despair for those of us who feel helpless to change it, but feel it slowly eroding our lives. Loeb’s wonderful book is a call to community, to reunification, to reawakening of courage, a battle cry to caring citizens to join with others in social action and to re-take control of America and help it to fulfill its promise for all people. Amazon.com calls it a “handbook for activism.” FACULTY IDEAS Sue Wein of Presentation College took three students to Pierre (state capitol) for two days. “We sat in on several committees, one dealing with age discrimination, another dealing with minimum wage. We are attending weekly ‘cracker barrels’ with our legislators and students are getting brave enough to bring up issues. Unfortunately, anything with $ signs attached is getting killed the first day of committee.” There is a group of 7 students who did a major research project on the success of the TANF welfare reform. “We are now taking it to the community, the press, etc. We are also raising money to make a trip to Washington for a Lobby Day sponsored by Network, the Catholic Social Justice group.” Sue also received a personal invitation to a meeting with Senator Johnson and Senator Daschle, taking the policy students along. “Since we have an internship site at Senator Johnson’s office, as well as Daschle’s, the social work office was their first stop!” Pamela Potter Ratliff, MSW, an Instructor at Benedict College’s Social Work Department in Columbia, SC has developed a BSW assignment using four phases that include course work and a social action project. Phase I requires students to select a social problem or issue and organize a small group to read about the issue and design an action program. Phase II is used to modify the project and set timelines for implementation. Phase III involves students in implementing their projects and writing a reflective paper on their experience using social action, social justice, social change and advocacy as concepts for analysis. Phase IV entails the students disseminating the information learned with policy makers, leaders in the community, legislators, etc. Jeff Schrenzel, Ph.D., an Associate Professor at Western New England College’s Department of Social Work and new ISP Advisory Board member, requires students to interview TANF recipients and analyze current policy, thus helping students to understand the effect of policy on people’s lives, the role of the social worker in promoting social justice and how advocacy and lobbying can be used to effect change. Jeff also conducts a pre and post evaluation of students’ attitudes towards welfare recipients. Pamela A. Viggiani, Ph.D. of Nazareth College of Rochester (NY) and Debra Fromm Faria, Ph.D. of SUNY at Brockport (NY) developed an assignment that required BSW students to participate actively in direct macro practice activities such as political rallies, lobbying campaigns, political campaigns for Congress or the legislature. They reported their involvement regularly through a software program, Blackboard, for all students to review. Instructors had to overcome resistance initially, but many students became enthusiastic, exploring new issues and learning how to influence policy and politicians. Molly E. Davis, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director of Field Education at George Mason University’s Department of Social Work developed a yearlong senior practicum assignment that develops teams skills and addresses state or national policy. Students must engage in advocacy, plan events, devise strategies, seek funding, organize panels of speakers, and do extensive reading on organizational change, advocacy and macro practice. This year students worked on grandparent care giving and the impact that privatization of Social Security would have on women. Jeff Dongville of Grand Valley State’s School of Social Work in Grand Rapids, MI is planning to collaborate this year with the staff of NASW-MI on advocating for legislation that reflects social work’s priorities. He believes that creating a working group of social work faculty and students from a variety of educational programs to work with the NASW chapter will be beneficial. Jeff plans to use the list of existing ISP Liaisons as a starting point. [The ISP Liaison list for each state has been updated recently on the website.] Anthony Bibus, Ph.D., new ISP Advisory Board member and Chairperson of Augsburg College’s Social Work Program recently joined other advocates to urge the Governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, to issue an executive order to prevent TANF recipients from being removed from the program after 5 years. There simply are no safety links for most of the children involved. DID YOU KNOW Ruth Brandwein, Professor at SUNY Stoney Brook and ISP Advisory Board member, was notified that a Faculty Development Institute entitled, “Incorporating Political Social Work and Policy Advocacy into the BSW and MSW Practicum Experiences,” was accepted for the APM of the Council on Social Work Education in Atlanta in February / March, 2003. Diane DiNitto of the University of Texas at Austin, Jean Finch of SUNY-Stoney Brook and Dean Pierce, Chairperson of the CSWE Accreditation Commission will also serve with Ruth as faculty. It will be a half-day interactive session and examine barriers and models for developing field placements in political social work and legislative advocacy. Sign up early! The Urban Institute has published Alan Weil's policy brief on the Ten Things Everyone Should Know about Welfare Reform. It contains a summary of caseloads, work and earnings, poverty and child well being, family structure, and population subgroups. Go to: http://www.urban.org/ViewPub.cfm/PubID=310484 David Stoesz, Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work has formed an electronic think tank, policyAmerica. The purpose of policyAmerica is to develop the next agenda in American social policy. This will be achieved by creating and fostering an electronic network of current and retired policy administrators, scholars, and advocates who propose, discuss, and craft innovations in social policies such as child protection, poverty, employment, health insurance, and long-term care. policyAmerica promotes three themes: personal mobility, citizen empowerment, and restructuring government. policyAmerica will exploit information technology and the capacity of the Internet to bridge the chasm between grassroots advocates and national policy makers. policyAmerica will post position papers, monographs, and opinions on issues of compelling public interest. Proposed papers and any questions can be forwarded to David Stoesz at dstoesz@vcu.edu. The Journal of Poverty has a Call For Papers out. The topic is: innovations on social, political, and economic inequalities. For more information go to: http://www.journalofpoverty.org Preliminary findings of a multi-year study of nonprofit charitable organizations' public policy participation indicate strong recognition by nonprofit leaders of the importance of public policy participation as it relates to serving their mission and community. However, a number of key barriers stand in the way of unleashing nonprofits' civic potential. The Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy Project (SNAP), which is a joint effort of OMB Watch, Tufts University and Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest, is the first national research effort designed to investigate the public policy role of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. The goals of the research are to determine nonprofits’ level of involvement in public policy issues, and to identify factors that motivate their involvement as well as factors that impede involvement. Go to: http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/771/1/122/ The Forum for Youth Investment has released a publication on State Youth Policy which finds that while all states have put in place scores of youth policies, no state can claim to have a single, coherent youth policy that serves as a lens for assessing and planning overall efforts. But across the country, innovative states are moving in that direction, developing more coordinated approaches to youth policy. Go to: http://click.topica.com/maaas4WaaS2qma30MoFb HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced the availability of $30 million in funds to help level the playing field for faith- and community-based organizations competing for federal grants and other funding. Under the Compassion Capital Fund demonstration program, nearly $25 million will be made available to 15-25 intermediary organizations that will provide technical assistance to help faith-based and community organizations to effectively access funding sources, operate and manage their programs, develop and train staff, expand the reach of programs into the community and replicate promising programs. Technical assistance must be offered at no cost to interested organizations. Priority for subawards will be given to programs that address homelessness, hunger, the needs of at-risk children, transition from welfare to work, and those in need of intensive rehabilitation such as addicts or prisoners. Information on the availability of CCF grants is published in the June 7, 2002, Federal Register, and grant awards will be made this fall. More information about the President's initiative and the HHS Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is available at http://www.hhs.gov/faith. NEW BOARD MEMBERS Several changes in Advisory Board Members have occurred since June. Drs. Nancy Hooyman, Darlyne Bailey, John Turner, and Ms. Nancy Amidei all completed 5 year terms, and Ms. Heather Carkuff and Ms. Aimee Perron have graduated now with their MSWs, finishing their student Advisory Board terms. Replacing this outstanding cluster are the following individuals, who also offer a comment to all ISP Liaisons. Anthony A. Bibus, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Department Chairperson, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN:
Sally Brockson, MSW, Ph.D. candidate at Virginia Commonwealth University:
Kathy Byers, Associate Professor and Coordinator of the BSW Program and Co-Director of the Institute for Family and Social Responsibility, Indiana University, Bloomington:
Michael Francis, MSW part time student at Virginia Commonwealth University:
Ann W. Nichols, Ph.D., Professor, Arizona State University, Tucson. (On sabbatical during 2002-03.) Jeff Schrenzel, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Western New England College, Springfield, MA:
Allen Vogt, MSW, Ph.D. candidate, Assistant Professor at Carthage College, Kenosha, WI:
IN THE STATES
STUDENT PROJECTS
ISP MISSION
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- This page last updated on: Wednesday , January 23, 2008 -
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